In any transmission of data between wireless devices, the parameters of the transmission must be set in a way known to both the transmitter and the receiver. A particular arrangement of such parameters can be called a mode of transmission or operational mode, which allows devices to be set up to operate in a particular mode of operations. In various operational modes, the parameters can include the particular formatting of data to be sent, the speed of transmission, the type of signal flow used, etc.
Signal formatting refers to the many varieties of signal standards that can be used. In a cell phone network, this could include the third generation (3G) long term evolution (LTE) standard, the global system for mobile phones (GSM) standard, or any other suitable cell phone protocol. In other wireless environments, other signal standards could be used to set the signal formatting.
The speed of transmission may be varied in some embodiments. In this case transmissions at different speeds would be classified as separate modes. This is because even if the same data formatting style were used, the difference in transmission speed would require different handling.
The type of signal flow would indicate whether the data transmissions are simplex, half-duplex, full duplex (sometimes simply referred to as ‘duplex’), or some variation of these. In simplex transmissions, data transmission is unidirectional. In other words, when two devices are in communication only one of the two devices sends data and only one of the two devices receives data. The transmitting device must have some kind of transmitter circuit, and the receiver device must have some kind of receiver circuit. In full duplex transmissions, data transmission is bidirectional. In other words, when two devices are in communication they each send and receive data at the same time. The two communicating devices must each have some kind of transceiver circuit configured to simultaneously transmit and receive signals. In half-duplex transmissions, data is sent in both directions, but not at the same time. In other words, the system allows for serial simplex transmission, with the two devices switching off as to who will be the transmitter and who will be the receiver. Like full duplex, half-duplex requires each device to include a transceiver circuit. However, since the devices do not transmit and receive at the same time, these transceiver circuits need not be configured for simultaneous transmission and reception.
As different device operational modes have become more prevalent in the marketplace, manufacturers inevitably desire to create devices that function in more than one mode. At present, mode changes are made either manually by a device operator, or are initiated by the device itself, requiring a hard shutdown of the previous communication and the mode is not changed until such a process happens again. This mode change is usually in response to coverage issues, such as a lack of coverage in given multiple access scheme or the presence of coverage in a new multiple access scheme that offers better services. This limited responsiveness can be disadvantageous, however, in certain circumstances where environmental, network, or device parameters change, it could be disadvantageous to maintain the same operational mode.